Oil-heating furnace and the like



Dec. 30, 1924. 1,520,771

G. L. PRCHARD ET AL OIL HEATNG FURNACE AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 28. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet l /3 MMT www Dec, 30, l 924.

G. L. PRICHARD ET AL OIL HEATING FURNACE AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 28, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 30, 1924. 1,520,771

G. L. PRICHARD ET AL OIL HEATING FURNACE AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 28. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 J JQ ooooooooooooooo fr* @Houmt/2 Patented Dec. 30, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE L. PRICHARD AND HERBERT HENDERSON, OF PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS, AS-

SIGNORS TO GULF REFINING COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A

CORPORATION F TEXAS.

OIL-HEATING FUR-NACE AND THE LIKE.

Application filed February 28, 1922.

T 0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, GEORGE L. PRICHARD and HERBERT HENDERSON, citizens of the United States, and residents of Port Arthur, in the county of Jefferson and State of Texas, have invented certain new and usefulA Improvements in Oil-Heating Furnaces and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to oil heating furnaces and the like and it comprises a heating chamber, oil containing means located therein, a fire box in communication with the chamber. and means for regulatingr the passage of tire gases through the chamber and around the oil container; all as more fully hereinafter set forth and as claimed.

In the generation of steam in boilers it is customary to heat the boiler to as high a temperature as possible and to circulate the gases around the boiler, the gases leaving the heating zone at as low a temperature as possible. Particularly in vertical water tube boilers the lower part of the tubes are heated to high temperatures and the upper part of the tubes are heated to lower temperatures with the gases or products of combustion which have previously heated the lower parts of the tubes. Such a method of heating is economical and advantageous in steam generating boilers, the object being to absorb as many heat units as possible.

In heating oils and the like, particularly for the purpose of crac-king higher boiling hydrocarbons into lower boiling hydrocarbons, it is desirable to heat the whole body of oil undergoing cracking to a uniform temperature, whether this be a relatively low temperature aroundti()O to 800 F. or higher temperatures-as high as 15000 F. Uniform heating prevents excess deposition of carbon or local overheating and permits accurate control of operation.

Among other objects of our invention is the provision of a furnace adapted for uniform and regular heating of oils and the i like.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown one form of a specific embodiment of our invention. n

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section through our furnace, certain parts being shown in elevation;

Figure 2 is a vertical section at right an- Serial No. 539,966.

gles to Figure 1 taken along the breechings leading to the flue and Figure 3 is a section along line 3 3 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings 1 indicates the brick supports upon which is mounted the fire box 2 having the fire brick walls and roof 3 and provided with the door 4 for air or an oil and gas burner and with the oil and gas burner 5. 'The tire boX is provided with the vertical shaft 6 separated from the fire chamber 7 by means of the wall 8, such wall being provided with a plurality of openings 9 spaced at intervals along its length. Beams 10, surrounded by brickwork, support, at their tops, beams 11 suitably braced by angle irons 12; and supported from the beam 11 by means of the bolts 13 and ears 13 is the upper drum 14 of the tubular boiler-like arrangement. The drum 14 is connected to the lower drum 15 by means of a plurality of tubes 16, the whole being suspended in the chamber 7 in such manner that contraction and expansion are well taken care of.

Leading from the heating chamber 7 at intervals along the height thereofl are the plurality of breechings 17 3 sets being shown. In the embodiment illustrated, each set may comprise 4 breechings 17 (shown in Figure 3) parallel to the upper and lower drums 14 and 15, all these breechings leading to the flues 18 which in turn communi- Cate with the stack 19. Each of the breechings is provided with a valve or damper 2O having the shafts 21 to which may be attached pulley wheels or the like driven by the chains or ropes 22 leading outside the furnace.

The heating chamber 7 receiving tire gases from the fire box is provided with a plurality of baffle plates 23 at different heights making in effect (in the embodiment shown) three independent heating chambers designated A, B and C, each of these chambers in communication with four of the breechings 17.

By proper adjustment of the damper-s 20 in the breechings, the volume of the tire gases passing the tubes through chambers A, B and C may be regulated. This permits regulation longitudinally of the tubes. By regulating the valves in any one of the four parallel breechings at the same elevation,

transverse regulation across the set of the be understood' that our invention is not limited to this number of dampers or to the number 0f breechings described. The chambers A, B and C are provided with the normally closed peep-holes 24 for observation of temperature by color in which event the dampers in the different breechings may be manually regulated; but ordinarily we provide thermostats shown diagrammatically at 26 which may be of the ordinary construction and which mayrecord the temperature at these different points. The thermostats may be arranged to automatically control the dampers in the breechings, The specific construct-ion of the thermostat is not a part of our invention and any form found on the market may be used for our purposes, as well as any form of automatic control.

Under the furnace we provide compartments 27 having the door 28 and the sloping floors 29 provided with a-drain pipe 30 for carrying away oils and the like when the furnace is down for repair or in the event of one of the t-ubes breaking. We advantageously cover the fire-brick fire box, shaft wall and the breeching walls with red brick 31.

Oil may be admitted to the lower drum by inlet 32, and vapors sent by lines 33 from the upper drum to codensers (not shown).

In` operation the furnace is red preferablyby burner 5 with air admitted through openingl from air flue 4', the products of combustion thus being sent along the roof of the fire box and then u the shaft 6. Or the burner may be use hole 4. All the dampers in the breechings may be opened at this time and as local overheating occurs or as it is discovered that parts of the tubes are not being heated to the lrequired temperatures, the dampers in the breechings are regulated accordingly. With thermostats set to regulate the dampers in accordance with the temperature of the firing gases entering each breechings, automatic control results. A temperature of 14000 F. is satisfactory for cracking gas oil and the like.

It will be noted that Wehave provided for what may be termed verticalY as well asl transverse regulation of the, ire'gases from one lire box for the whole set of tubes of thelboiler-like construction and through in burner the independently operated dampers in the breechings, we may accurately control the passage of fire gases past the tubes at any height or at any point along their height before these gases reach the stack.

Since the gases leaving the iues are at relatively high temperatures their heat may be utilized elsewhere by closing damper 34 leading to the stack 19 and opening damper 35 in the ue 36 leading to a heater of any known type, such as a preheater for boilers and the like.

What we claim is 1. A furnace comprising a fire box, a vertical shaft, means for dividing the shaft into a plurality of vertically spaced compartments, a liquid container extending through the said compartments, ports in the wall of said shaft'and in communication with the lire box, whereby heating gases from the fire box may be admitted to the said compartments, breechings leading from the compartments of said shaft, dampers in said breechings, a. stack, and iues leading from the breechings to the stack.

2. A furnace comprising a lire box,l a vertical sha-ft, means for dividing the shaft into aA plurality of vertically spaced compartments, a liquid container extending through the sa-id compartments, ports in the wall of said shaft and in communica-tion with the fire box, whereby heating gases vfrom the tire box may be admitted to the said compartments, ai plurality of horizontally spaced breechings leading fromeach lcompartment of said shaft, dampers in said breechings, a stack, and lues leading from the' breechings to the stack.

3. A furnace comprising a vertical shaft, the Walls on one side being provided with ports for admitting fire gases to the shaft throughout its length, and the wall on the other side being provided with a pluralityl GEORGE L. PRICHARD. HERBERT HENDERSON. 

